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What Does Project COPE Offer?
We offer our clients a high level of community support when their families cannot provide it. Together, COPE and the partnership teams meet the basic needs of men and women released from prison, often with nothing at all. We provide food, clothing, bus passes, and money for birth certificates and state identification; we recommend getting a library card and provide information about difficult-to-understand bureaucracies, such as health services.
Whenever possible, our teams help their partners search for a job, sometimes using resources from their own congregational networks. They practice interviewing skills, particularly how to describe the partner's criminal record and his or her desire to make a new future.
If the partner lives in COPE housing, we provide a safe space. We test for drugs, enforce occupancy regulations and strive for a congenial atmosphere.
Our teams offer emotional support that is a less tangible, but still crucial, element of COPE's program. Altogether, our mission is to provide holistic care and support for ex-offenders during the first difficult year after their release.
